Apple, the Giants first-round pick from Ohio State, said he wasn’t distracted by the headlines during the week regarding his mother, Annie Apple, who wrote a column on SI.com blasting the Giants for the way in which they handled the Josh Brown domestic violence case, and implied they were pressuring her son to get her to tone down her criticism. Apple was forced to address it, and said the organization hasn’t pressured him at all, though it put him in an “awkward” position.

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Sunday afternoon, however, was just a bad performance, and he deserved to get pulled, after missing multiple tackles, giving up a touchdown to Matthews and going offsides on one play. His outspoken mother had nothing to do with it.

“It was nothing like that. It was all me,” Apple said. “Sometimes you’re out there trying to do too much, thinking too much. It’s a good learning experience. I’ll get through it.”

Giants coach Ben McAdoo didn’t address the move, other than to say Apple missed a tackle and the Giants wanted to give themselves the best chance to win.

“He struggled, but he’ll bounce back,” McAdoo said.

Wade said: “Everybody has a bad game. He’s gonna be just fine. We were all behind him, picking him up, telling him just come back for practice, ‘We won the game, you’re learning and come back next week,’ because we’ll need him.”

When the Giants signed veteran cornerback Leon Hall in early August, Wade’s spot on the roster was uncertain. But a strong preseason ensured he wouldn’t need to a find a new home. And on Sunday, it was Hall, not Wade, inactive. When Apple struggled, Wade found himself on the field in the season’s biggest spot, making the play to clinch an important victory, breaking up the potential game-winning touchdown pass in the end zone.

“I knew they were going to come at me,” Wade said. “We all knew that was the play. Who are you going to go [at]? You got [Janoris Jenkins, Dominique-Rodgers-Cromartie], and I just came in.

“It felt good, to just not let the team down. Now we have to build on the momentum.”